The sleeper bus from Phnom Penh was horrible. It was around 400km but due to road conditions around this area we were told it would take 9 hours. Due to leave at 0030 our pick up from the Lazy Gecko guest house was at 2145 but it didnt turn up until just before 0030. Bad start already! We got to the bus about 0100 and tried to settle in although we were worried about our bags which were stored on the floor below (where the staff are) as we had read about them stealing things on double deckers. I fell asleep quite quickly despite the most uncomfortable beds. Then I awoke again at 0300 when the coach was started, what we had been doing for the past 2 hours we couldn't work out but we were finally off!
The beds were extremely uncomfortable and in a very awkward position so it would have been hard to sleep on a decent road let alone the dirt tracks in Cambodia.
Eventually we made it to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, 1200 hours. We had been traveling for 12 hours, not fun! We had absolutely no idea where we were in the city but we did have an idea of the area we wanted to stay. So I asked a taxi driver and he pointed somewhere far north of where we wanted to be on the map. He offered to take us there and as Vietnam doesn't have any tuk tuk we accepted. About 15 minutes later we arrived at the road and paid half a million dong (15 pounds). We found the hotel and went out for some food. Thats when we walked around the corner to find it was the place that the coach dropped us off. B*****d taxi driver.

That night we booked tickets to go down to the Mekong River, an important part of Vietnams rice industry as it is responsible for 1/3 of all rice in the country. Its also a very stereotypical Vietnam scene.

It was a 2 hour trip to the Mekong but was broken up with a visit to a craft workshop in which disabled people were given the opportunity to work creating pieces out of eggshell decorated wood covered in lacquer. Mum you've got a present from here ;)

The Mekong is an impressive river that originates in Cambodia on Tonle Sap lake (the floating village) and flows to the Gulf of Thailand. Our guide was particularly amusing, calling the group his 'family' everytime he opened his mouth and translating everything into Vietnamese word for word, even the little giggles and 'err's.
We got onto our boat and went accross to the other side of the river where we saw how coconut candy is created and got to taste 'snake wine'. Snake wine is a 50% spirit the is left to soak in snake and scorpion. It was surprising nice!
Next we hoped on a carriage pulled by horse that showed us the local village, it felt a bit cruel because of the heat and the horses looked malnourished!
We then headed over to Pheonix island to eat lunch which was included as pork and rice (surprise surprise). The menu was quite exotic however, with turtle, crocodile and cocount worm (see menu for disgusting picture).
There are 4 islands on this particular part of the Mekong each named after an animal sacred in Buddhism. Pheonix had a crocodile enclosure which one could buy meat on the end of a stick to tease and feed the crocs. Was good to see them moving around and to see the power in their jaw, surprisingly quick!
The we headed over to Unicorn Island where we hopped onto a traditional rowing boat and we rowed up a very narrow river that was busy with locals working and transporting good. This felt like a film it was quite strange. Proper Vietnamese!

That night we booked our tikcets to visit Cu Chi and our bus ticket to Mui Ne, a beach town!
Cu Chi is a town that is on the Mekong and was a major part of Vietnams war with the US and Aus in the 70s. The area is mostly jungle with young trees. The trees are so young because of the carpet bombing and napalm used by the Americans, it destroyed the majority of the jungles. Because of this the Viet Cong Gorillas build a vast web of tunnels below the ground where the fighters, familys and locals could not only hide but live. The tunnels weren't lit and were just large enough to crawl through (as a westerner!). They would got as far as 4 stories down, with hospitals, kitchens, dining rooms, school and houses. Each tunnel was connected and the whole system was 200km long. Its hard to imagine but they were created by small pick axe and the mud was transported by bamboo basket and hidden in bomb craters.
We were shown some of the tactics used by the Gorillas to fight off the US and the traps were especially horrific. Various methods were used including hiding grenades under dead soldiers so that when the US returned to pick up the dead the body would explode. Another method was hiding in an entrance to the tunnels and purposely being seen so that they would go near the hole, then popping up from another hole and shooting them down. The traps included the armpit cutter that would spin and stab you multiple times in the ribcage under your arms and hidden holes which had poisoned spears below. The US ground troop stood no chance. The Viet Cong even took bombs (exploded and unexploded) cut them up and created mines.
Their methods were brutal and its hard to imagine such a war in the past 40 years but it worked. It seems people try to take this country but nobody succeeds!
At Cu Chi there was also a shooting range but it was 45, 000 VD per bullet. As we'd already shot we decided to save the money.

What a few days in Ho Cho Minh City! The history is crazy, the undefeated Vietnam. Just a shame if you walk off the path you'll explode on a land mine. Both Vietnam and Cambodia are riddled with land mines and it too dangerous to walk through the forests. Cool eh!

Now on a decent sleeper bus to Mui Ne. It has bunk beds and proper reclining chairs/ beds. Id say on par with BA premium.

Pictures to follow when i get better internet.